Author Archives: Diana Symons

When The Enemy Lies

Your know those times when the world is falling apart and everything you do is wrong? You feel like the stupidest person on earth and nothing anyone says helps you in the least. Guess whose game plan that is! Hint, it’s not God’s. Satan’s plan is to kill, steal, and destroy. That means that he will use every device to pull you down, if not physically, then emotionally. The enemy lies.

Granted, we have to admit that we are not perfect, but doesn’t mean that every evil thought that runs though our head, especially when we are stressed, it true. Whether is comes, from your own thoughts, the news, or someone you know, lies will try to take you down; lies that are completely false and destructive.

So what do you do? First, you have to recognize them. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) He also said, ” My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) That means that you need to learn to hear His voice and you do that through reading the Word and prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Ask Him to help you hear His voice. He wants more than anything to be in communion with you, like any loving parent would. Spend as much time as you can learning to hear Him. He will be surprisingly responsive to encourage you to come closer. Do it! It’s awesome.

After you know that you are hearing God, knowing what is true becomes easier. All you have to do is ask. Even so, when we are under pressure, or have to deal with serious difficulties, it’s not always easy to realize that the enemy is at work. That’s why having a habit of spending time with Jesus is important, especially in the hard times. He will help clear your mind and keep you centered so you can see what is true and what is a lie.

And when you recognize a lie, all you have to do is rebuke it. Rebuke the lies of the enemy and claim the truth of God for your life. Thank God for His goodness and faithfulness and ask Him to lead you in all righteousness. He gave us authority over all the works of the enemy. We don’t have to put up with lies that tear us down. Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matt 10:16) Don’t fall for the lies. You are amazing.

Why Do You Want Salvation?

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If asked, I think most people would say that the reason they want to be saved is to avoid going to hell. It’s not an unreasonable desire, but I think it misses the entire point of salvation. Let’s go back and look at why that is.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He had to create it because there was nothing, nothing that we understand anyway. He made the earth and animals and people. Then He chose a specific people group to call His own. He led them and taught them to understand their need to trust Him and His will and desire to love and protect them. As we follow the story of human interaction with God, it becomes clear that the reason for creation was for God to have a relationship with us. Not an oppressive, domineering relationship, but an intimate, loving, family relationship.

“And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6) He has called us to be His own family. We’re meant to call Him Daddy, or Papa. He wants to spend time with us, enjoying our company, teaching us and protecting us in life.

As an adult, I learned much more about my earthly father than I did as a child. The more time I spent with him, the more stories I heard that I had never heard before. The same is true with God. Never assume that because you believe in God and accept His salvation that that’s all there is. He promises that we “may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3) Those treasures aren’t just dropped in your lap. They don’t automatically come after a set amount of time or service. You have to want them. You have to spend time with Papa asking for more. Ask and it will be given. He is delighted to show you the deeper things.

Why should you want to be saved? Because it allows you to know the most magnificent mind in the universe and be called his family and friend. Dive into that and the idea of being saved to avoid hell becomes irrelevant.

What Does Christmas Really Mean?

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When you think of Christmas, you automatically think of Christmas trees and Santa Claus. Never mind. Enjoy the holiday with your family. Give presents and have a nice meal. Ignore how the date was chosen and all the baggage of those long lost associations. What Christmas really means is that amazing moment when Heaven came to the earth.

Imagine that. The God of heaven coming to earth because He had a plan to love us and save us. Jesus is the Son of God, part of the magnificent Trinity, so yes, God came down to live with us. His plan was to teach us to love as He loves, to trust Him in all things, and to encourage us with blessing and hope for the astonishing future waiting for us. It was the divine appointment meant to set the plan of salvation into action. Next to creation, it was the greatest event to happen on earth.

What does it mean to us today? If we call Jesus Lord, it means a time of reflection that eclipses the tawdry commercialization of the season. It’s a time to wonder at the stunning blueprint written in heaven to draw us into the eternity of His love. You could lose yourself just thinking about how Abraham was picked to be the father of a people chosen to hear the voice of God; about the Godhead living as a child among a people who despised and ignored Him for generations; about the destiny He created for each of us if we honor and love Him with all our heart.

Christmas is when Heaven came to earth in the most divine, lavish demonstration of love we will ever know. Sing the carols of Silent Night, Holy Night and Hark, the Herald Angles Sing. Sing with the joy of thankfulness and wonder of what we celebrate. Heaven came to give us the greatest blessing known to man.

What Does It Mean To Trust God?

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Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD God is the eternal Rock. (Isaiah 26:4)

All you who fear the LORD, trust the LORD! He is your helper and your shield. (Psalm 115: 11)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. [Jesus] (John 14:1)

Over and over again we are told to trust God. It should come naturally when we love Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. But do we? Easier said than done sometimes.

We don’t live in a society where we are encouraged to trust God, so when we run into situations that can turn us into panicked monkeys, it’s not always easy to remember to trust the One who excels at making everything work out for the best. Take another look at the scriptures above. Not one of them says, if you feel like it. You will notice that they are emphatic. These are not suggestions, these are commands, because if we will indeed trust in the Lord, He will save us from immeasurable pain.

Sounds good, but how do you do it? I remember my small cousin when she was about eighteen months old. My uncle would hold her standing straight and tall in one hand and lift her up so she stood six feet in the air as calmly as if she stood on solid ground. Why? Because she had absolute trust in him. She had no reason to believe that he would allow her to be hurt. The rest of us watched with terrified glee, but she never batted an eye.

We must trust God the same way. Don’t let your heart be troubled. This takes some self discipline. Anxiety will come, it will, but then you must rebuke it. Literally rebuke it and then turn to God and tell Him that you trust Him in this situation. When it happens again, you know the drill. Don’t allow your heart to be troubled. Sit back and think of God the Father as the loving God who holds you in His hand and will not allow you to fall. Thank Him for that. The more you acknowledge His goodness and ability to take care of you, but easier it will be to turn your trust to Him automatically. Soon anxiety will have no hold on you. You can be free.

Forgiveness Is A Necessity, You Don’t Have A Choice

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Does it ever surprise you that out of nowhere you suddenly remember an incident that happened years ago that makes you feel uncomfortable? Perhaps someone did something that hurt you or made you angry. You thought you put the whole thing behind you, but there it is again popping up in your memory, and it still bothers you.

I believe that when that happens, the Holy Spirit is prompting us to forgive someone because we didn’t do it before. We hold on to resentment, anger, bitterness over something that happened so long ago we forgot about it, but the emotions are still impressed deep within our spirits. God wants to clean us up, to heal us of past wounds.

I have learned that whenever I suddenly remember a past event like that to pause and think – did I ever forgive that person? No I did not and that’s why the memory and feelings still persist. So now I forgive without question. There’s no reason to hold onto bad feelings, ever. I think that the more we clean out those bad feelings, but easier it is to hear God.

And that’s not the only reason to forgive. “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matt 6:15) That’s a startling reason to forgive. Jesus told the story of the unmerciful servant (Matt 18:23-35) as a clear teaching on what He expects of us. His blood covers our sin. His blood, tortured from his body. He did that willingly because He loves us so much. If we can’t forgive people after what He did for us, He has every right to not forgive our sins, and we know that the wages of sin leads to death.

Just forgive. It’s not that hard. You just acknowledge you haven’t forgiven that person and do it. Then ask God to forgive you for not doing it sooner. Then be aware of those awkward memories. Ask yourself, do I need to forgive them? Is that why the Holy Spirit is reminding me? Just do it.

Is God Mad At Me?

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Several years ago a church changed their street message board to say “God is not made at you”. Soon after, they were inundated with angry phone calls for some time. Apparently, many people believe that God is mad at them and feel the need to vent, to ask why, to affirm their stance that God is indeed vengeful. Do you wonder, Is God mad at me?

Rest at ease, He is not. How do I know that? I can read it in every book of the Bible. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal live. (John 3:16) A vengeful God does not sacrifice His most precious Son. A loving God does. Why? Because He wants to ensure a way for us to be with Him. Jesus took on the sins of the world, including ours, and covered them with His own blood. All we need to do is accept that gift of sacrifice with humble thanks. His love for us is outrageous and never ending.

But what about the Old Testament God who looks pretty vengeful? God told His people what they needed to do to stay safe within His protection and grace, but over and over again they deserted Him to worship idols. His anger was against their actions, not the people themselves. He repeatedly told them to trust in Him and He would cover them with His mercy. Most of the time, they did not.

Do you believe that God is mad at you because bad things happen to you? Bad things happen to everyone, even when we know how much God loves us. He never said we wouldn’t have problems. He said if we trust Him, He’ll be with us and work things out. It’s the trust part that trips up most people. We don’t know how to take our hands off to let God be in control. Most of the time, we doubt that He will do anything for us. It’s a real test of our faith. If we really believe, if we really trust that God is who He said He is, we can relax and watch Him do what we could not.

Bad things may happen because we’re not even trying to trust Him so we just make stupid decisions. We suffer the consequences of what we got ourselves into. Even then, all we have to do is tell God how sorry we are for what we’ve done and ask His forgiveness. He will always forgive. It’s His nature.

No, God is not mad at you. He loves you very, very much. He’s a great, good God who wants to give you every blessing in heaven. All you have to do is receive it.

God Wants To Give You Treasure, Are You Ready?

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A wooden treasure chest with an open lid and illuminated from inside. “I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.” (Isaiah 45:3) This verse has always fascinated me. God must be so amused by how much we think we know about – everything. We know so much and yet so little about the human body, life in the ocean, the expanse of space. We think we know about Him. And yet He has the amazing promise that He would show us treasures and riches that have been hidden just so He could reveal them to us.

God is far more giving and generous than we know, yet the Puritan ethic is that we should not ask anything for ourselves. It is somehow selfish to want to be blessed. I don’t think God sees it that way. I think He wants to bless our socks off. Yes, James does warn us, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3) It can’t be denied that selfishness can get in the way when what we want means more to us than God Himself.

However, when our priorities are straight, when we love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind (Matthew 22:37), our loving Papa God says, “Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.” (Psalm 2:8) He wants to bless us. He’s waiting for us to come to Him as loving sons and daughters so He can pour out blessing that only He can provide. But until He can trust us with the treasure, He will wait until we are ready. We must have a generous soul, a heart of humility, a willingness to be corrected. He won’t trust His treasure to babies. He is looking for maturity and faith to trust Him completely in hard times. He is looking for our love and praise that spills from us like a delighted lover. That one can be blessed with the treasures of heaven.

I wonder about these treasures. Knowing that God is magnificently awesome, His treasures will be mind blowing and I want to see them. So I press in. I want to know Him more. I want to hear His voice and see His face. I want every blessing that belongs to me because it shows me how stunning Papa God is. It makes me so excited I could dance.

The Simplest Prayer

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The simplest prayer is no prayer at all. It is loving and being loved. It is looking into the eyes of the Father while trying to say thank you. You may try, but when his love floods your soul, the best you can do is smile through your tears. No words have to be spoken in a moment like that. The words are necessary for other times, but when you are locked into the heart of God, the best you can do is try to absorb it all. He knows that and it’s OK. In fact, you may go through seasons were all you do is weep when you think of him. It does something inside. I’m not sure what, but I feel it. Sometimes I choose to be wordless with him so I can just sit in his peace. Other times I couldn’t speak if I had to. The loving, the listening, the tears, and the wonder – it’s all prayer and it all matters.

What in the World is God’s Great Plan?

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God’s Great Plan decreed our inheritance before creation. “He chose us before the creation of the world.” Ephesians 1:4

His Great Plan laid the foundations for a supreme sacrifice. He knew. And he came. He wanted us to be with him. He wants us to be with him. All his desire is for us to be with him. All our desires should answer his. Imagine the unbounded greatness – the meeting of our great desire with his. Like worlds and galaxies colliding. The shockwaves of love that move mountains and shake the stars. Imagine living within the hub of that intensity in perfect peace. No harm. No fear. Not easy, but no fear. Life is still messy, but inside the hub is light and peace.

But there’s only room for one. We must each love him to the edges of our desire, our own worlds colliding with his. Only after we attain the hub do we join together to create an even stronger unity. Is it correct to say we live in a hub? He is a strong tower, a fortress, a wing of protection. I think hub fits.

Let the collision begin.

What Does God Think Of Super Heroes?

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Why is it that we love hero stories? We seem to especially love super hero stories. There must be inhuman odds of the hero ever finding success. The earth itself must be in peril. The greater the opposition and difficulty of the hero to even survive makes the story that much better. This is not a recent phenomenon. Hero stories have lasted for thousands of years. There’s something about them that we humans love.

I think it has to do with something that we’d never associate those stories with. I think it has to do with the very nature of God. It is the nature of God to overcome evil. His goodness banishes evil by Him being good. Consider this, God breathed life into Adam. That breath of God contained the essence of the Godhead. It gave life to the spirit of Adam so that we retain, how ever minute, the essence of God within us. We love stories that overcome evil because God put that desire in us. They inspire us to live above our humanity.

But is it real? Is Superman real? In a sense yes. With God, all things are possible. ALL THINGS. Nothing is impossible. When we stand against evil, we become heroes in the kingdom. That doesn’t happen when we confine our Christian experience to church attendance and potluck socials. It only happens when we stand face to face against cancer, terrorism, sex trafficking, massive floods, death and destruction.

How do you release your super powers? By standing in the authority that God gave you. He did not say, pray and ask me to heal the sick. He said, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons.” (Matt 10:8) That’s super hero stuff, and every believer that is filled with the Spirit of God has it in him to do. We are capable of so much good, if we only believed it. We can stand against the very tide of evil and turn it back with a word, just as Jesus stopped the storm. He left us with the command to do as He did. (Jhn 14:12)

I believe that we will face an accounting for what we did with the power that Jesus gave us. Like the talents buried in the ground, we waste so much of what we’ve been given. And the unprofitable servant will be cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt 25:30) Is that scare mongering? Perhaps, but it is also truth and plain as day in the Bible.

God did not expect us to allow the world to be overrun by evil. He gave us the power of His Spirit for a reason — to heal, bless, and release the kingdom of God everywhere we go. Whenever we stand against the devices of the enemy, the real Super Hero within us is released in power to effect His good. And He doesn’t mind us enjoying stories that inspire us to do that.